Three points for correctly identifying pictures of a lion, camel, and rhinoceros.

Three points if you can draw a clock that indicates the time “10 past 11.”

It is reassuring to be told that Trump can pass this test. But it underscores the absurdity in the fact that this brief and voluntary assessment—of a sort that might be used to place a child in kindergarten—is the only basis for assessing fitness of a president.” – THE ATLANTIC

]]>https://emotanafricana.com/2018/01/17/the-cognitive-test-that-trump-passed-was-neither-thorough-nor-difficult-the-atlantic-james-hamblin/feed/0emotanCalling out Bimbọ Aiyelabola, Lagos “society woman” – AGAIN – to pay up 145,000 Pounds she owes British NHS! – Tola Adenlehttps://emotanafricana.com/2016/10/30/calling-out-bimbo-aiyelabola-lagos-society-woman-again-to-pay-up-145000-pounds-she-owes-british-nhs-tola-adenle/
https://emotanafricana.com/2016/10/30/calling-out-bimbo-aiyelabola-lagos-society-woman-again-to-pay-up-145000-pounds-she-owes-british-nhs-tola-adenle/#respondSun, 30 Oct 2016 07:44:23 +0000http://emotanafricana.com/?p=35545BIMBỌ AIYELABOLA, Lagos society lady who drives BMW as one of her vehicles while remaining a big-time debtor who scammed the NHS through health delivery costs

I’ve gone to the trouble of calling up my Yoruba alphabet keyboard to maintain the dignity of one of Yoruba’s most beloved female names – Abimbọla, Bimbọ for short – which, without the dot under the ‘o’, connotes an unsavory meaning. From here on, this debtor, bordering on a scammer, is simply Bimbo – whatever the meaning and connotation those who own the English Language ascribe to it.

Below: Bimbo and her bundle of joy delivered by Caesarian in England back in 2011

As the British national health services totters towards an unsustainable precipice, this VERY UGLY Nigerian, one of those who continue to give the country a very bad name and soil her image, is living a life of luxury that millions of British who pay into running the country’s durable and very supportive National Health Service are in danger of losing this veritable British institution.

Above shows the face that Bimbo presents to the world on her FACEBOOK, a pleasant, can’t-hurt-a-fly persona that was in The Mail Online when her story first appeared two seasons ago, exactly as Spring officially broke on March 21 this year.

Since then, Spring has rolled into Summer and then the chilly days of Fall nearing Winter is at around but still not a sign Bimbo is ready to settle a debt deliberately and, perhaps calculatedly-incurred.

The same big readership site known for sensational headline-grabbing stories – if this welsher’s story does not grab attention, what would – has put out a [sort of] all-points-bulletin (APB) about this massive debt.

Back in March, this case was described as the “Most notorious case of health tourism was Nigerian Bimbo Ayelabola”.

What will it take to get Bimbo to reach out to the UK and start a process that would get her massive debt settled?

By the way, Bimbo, have you thought about what lies ahead for these lovely five kids whose last name could forever be blacklisted in the UK if nothing else would make you think of paying off this massive debt which would be a sign of your gratitude to the NHS?

]]>https://emotanafricana.com/2016/10/30/calling-out-bimbo-aiyelabola-lagos-society-woman-again-to-pay-up-145000-pounds-she-owes-british-nhs-tola-adenle/feed/0emotannigerian-scammer-aiyelabolaNigerian: The most notorious case of health tourism was Bimbo Ayelabola (above), whose care while she gave birth to quintuplets cost taxpayers £145,000all-grown-upSupport [U.K.] Catriona Ogilvy’s drive: “Extend maternity leave for mothers of premature babies – Tola Adenlehttps://emotanafricana.com/2016/10/12/support-u-k-catriona-ogilvys-drive-extend-maternity-leave-for-mothers-of-premature-babies-tola-adenle/
https://emotanafricana.com/2016/10/12/support-u-k-catriona-ogilvys-drive-extend-maternity-leave-for-mothers-of-premature-babies-tola-adenle/#respondWed, 12 Oct 2016 08:55:11 +0000http://emotanafricana.com/?p=33786This drive for maternity leave to be extended for mothers of premature babies in the UK is a good opportunity to wonder aloud how, in good old USA, the idea of general maternity leave remains an idea still being dreamed of by women.

When women give birth in the United States of America, a country that has planted its stars and stripes beyond the earth, those women who are often at the lowest levels of their careers, literally rush from maternity wards back to work. I know because my first child started taking her baby – though not a premature – to a sitter when the infant was only a month old and when the young woman had hardly fully recovered from the rigors of pregnancy, labor and getting used to being a mother. It was a break that called for her forfeiting part of her much-need earnings at work.

Even in so-called under-developed countries, women enjoy general maternity leave in most countries. In Nigeria, for example, millions of young women find ways to work work as close to their expected dates of delivery as much as possible so that the three month-benefit can be fully utilized for post-delivery bonding with their children. The three months, of course, are paid leave that must be given to government as well as private employees.

A situation as that in the States is not only inimical to the well-being of women and babies in the critical early stage but it also impacts the financial well-being of families because in most cases, young working women can only get some weeks off – as my daughter did back in 1999 – by forfeiting pay for such a break, or save their annual leaves – generally not more than 2 weeks (10 working days) for most to prevent the loss of paychecks that would go with taking more time off.

The United Kingdom already has general maternity leave and this petition for a very important but neglected segment of new mothers needs to be supported. Even though mothers are discharged before the babies are finally able to go home, the longer bonding period for a mother of premature babies may be longer in many cases than full-term babies.

This is a wonderful initiative that needs the support of millions of women – and men – in the U.K.

Hi Tola! Have you seen the movie “Food, Inc.”? It’s a good watch. Cheers!

Since I had heard of the movie but had never watched it, I decided to search the web for it because it deals with the subject of highly-mechanized and Industrialized food production, particularly in the USA.

The following are excerpts from a review of the movie:

Initially, one might think what a wonderful thing the industrialization of food has been. We’re now able to “produce a lot of food on a small amount of land at a very affordable price.” Why wouldn’t that be a good thing?

Back in the 1950’s, it took 70 days to raise a chicken. Today, chickens are raised in 48 days and they are twice as big. Additionally, since more people like to eat white meat, the chickens have been redesigned to have larger breasts. Progress.

Corn Production

In addition to taking a look at meat and poultry, the film also points out that 30% of our land is being planted in corn. Corn is used to feed chickens, hogs and cattle and now even to fish. If you look at the products on the supermarket shelf, you will probably find corn or soybeans (or both) in 90% of them.

Cows are not designed by evolution to eat corn; they’re designed to eat grass. But because corn is cheap (since the government subsidizes it) and it makes them fat quickly, we feed them corn.

If you take feed lot cattle off of their corn diet, give them grass for 5 days, they’ll shed 80% of the E. coli in their gut.

Revolving Door Between Big Business & The Regulating Agencies

This part of the movie shouldn’t have surprised me at all, but it did. The extent to which businesses and the agencies that regulate them are in bed together is mind-boggling. Why isn’t more being done about this conflict of interest? Where’s the media when these things are going on?

Go to the link below for rest of review:

[http://www.soulfulequine.com/food-inc-a-movie-review-and-recap/]

And you can see clips of the Oscar Award winning movie on YouTube as well as a 1 1/2-hour screen at: https://vimeo.com/31813990

There are also other online sites for the full movie, including where it can be watched free.

RELATED ESSAYS ON THIS BLOG

Standing up to Monsanto, The GMO King, is not easy even in powerful USA. July 4, 2016.

]]>https://emotanafricana.com/2016/09/02/food-inc-a-cause-and-a-movie-cows-fish-that-feed-on-corn-and-more-tola-adenle/feed/3emotanFood, Inc. Movie Poster🙂USA: G.M.O. Labeling Law Could Stir a Revolution – Mark Bittmanhttps://emotanafricana.com/2016/09/02/usa-g-m-o-labeling-law-could-stir-a-revolution-mark-bittman/
https://emotanafricana.com/2016/09/02/usa-g-m-o-labeling-law-could-stir-a-revolution-mark-bittman/#respondFri, 02 Sep 2016 11:33:07 +0000http://emotanafricana.com/?p=27532Nigerians should take a cue from the USA, home country of giant agro-chemical company, Monsanto and cry out on the company’s aggressive p.r. as well as other back-door means to have some of its most dangerous GMOs enter Nigeria’s food chain.

While Monsanto is not being stopped from having these in the informed and tech-savvy USA, the company is mandated to produce information that can be read or decoded using smart phones on genetically-modified products.

Today, I’m also posting information on a 2012 movie, Food, Inc. which was brought to my notice by a reader of this blog.

Nigerians must raise a collective voice of rage at the strange way the National Biosafety Management Agency approved a license on Nigeria’s work-free Labor Day, May 1, 2016 and signed by its Director-General, Rufus Ebegba. This was later denied with comments that approval was only given for “field trials”. TOLA.

A New York Times op.ed, September 2, 2016.

Ed Nacional

Big food and its allies spent roughly $100 million to counter the movement to force the labeling of foods produced with genetically modified organisms. And one could argue that they were successful: President Obama recently signed the weakest labeling law imaginable, and to most of the food movement, this felt like a loss.

But to be optimistic, perhaps rashly so, to me the law looks like a victory wrapped inside a defeat.

The new law mandates that the Department of Agriculture define what constitutes a genetically modified food ingredient and then requires food manufacturers to label products that contain them. Disappointment among labeling proponents stems from the latitude the law gives food companies in how this labeling is done.

Producers may use a text label, a symbol, a toll-free number that consumers can call for more information, or a code that can be scanned with a smartphone to link to a website. The new law tells consumers, “You deserve to know what’s in your food, so we’re going to tell you,” while sending a not-too-subtle message to food companies: “Feel free to make this information as difficult to find as you’d like.”

At first glance, it seems like another tacit agreement between government and industry to rob consumers of our right to know what’s in our food.

But what if this backfires? What if the food industry has inadvertently opened the door to a transparency revolution? Could the acknowledgment implicit in the new law, that we should know what goes into making our food, be the thin end of the wedge? Has the argument that food productionprocesses are as important as ingredients begun to make sense to policy makers?

Biotechnology has allowed seed producers to modify or splice genes to grow crops with specific characteristics, like resistance to certain diseases, pests or weed killers. Up to 90 percent of the corn, soybeans and cotton now produced in the United States comes from genetically modified seeds.

These foods produced with G.M.O.s have not been found to be harmful to people who eat them. (This isn’t to say they won’t be; our system for declaring products safe leaves much to be desired.) In some instances, the technology has yielded great medical benefits and will certainly lead to more. In industrial agriculture, the technology has led to lower applications of insecticides. But it has also encouraged the growth of weeds that have become resistant to herbicides after years of exposure, often forcing growers to turn to more and different herbicides in a cycle of chemical warfare.

Another problem is that by simplifying the growing of almost unimaginably large tracts of crops, especially corn and soybeans, G.M.O.s have become an indispensable crutch for the fertilizer- and pesticide-dependent monoculture that is wrecking our land and water and generating the execrable excess of corn- and soy-based junk food that is sickening our population and decreasing our life spans.

Of course, there is much more we could know about our food than whether it was genetically engineered. Now that we’re “allowed” to know about G.M.O.s, there are some other questions about the food we buy that we might like answered. For example: Where are the ingredients from? Were antibiotics routinely administered to animals? What pesticides and other chemicals were used, and do traces of these chemicals remain? Was animal welfare considered, and how? What farming practices were used? How much water was required?

Let’s really get down to it. Were the workers who sweated to put food on my table paid at least minimum wage? Did they get health benefits? Overtime? Were they unionized? Protected from pesticide exposure?

And so on. All of this information could be made available. Some people care about this, others don’t. But now that the new labeling law has opened the disclosure door a crack, why not open it wide and see what’s inside?

Companies that are doing things well should (and will) seize the chance to put whatever they can on the package, and a bar code to provide even more data. Eventually, companies that don’t disclose information could be assumed to have something to hide.

4 COMMENTS

We’re long overdue for a transparency revolution. The compromise on G.M.O. labeling was forced by Vermont’s passage of its own, stricter labeling law (now rendered null by the federal law), which would have spread to other states. The next stage may be one or two states mandating the disclosure of more information about how our food is produced.

As eaters, this is in our interest. We should turn up the pressure.

Mark Bittman, a former columnist for The New York Times, is a fellow at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

RELATED ESSAYS ON THIS BLOG

Standing up to Monsanto, The GMO King, is not easy even in powerful USA. July 4, 2016.

]]>https://emotanafricana.com/2016/09/02/usa-g-m-o-labeling-law-could-stir-a-revolution-mark-bittman/feed/0emotanBITMANblogUpdate: Nigeria changes tune on NK603 gmo – “we only approved field trials”!https://emotanafricana.com/2016/06/22/update-nigeria-changes-tune-on-nk603-gmo-we-only-approved-field-trials/
https://emotanafricana.com/2016/06/22/update-nigeria-changes-tune-on-nk603-gmo-we-only-approved-field-trials/#commentsWed, 22 Jun 2016 03:29:09 +0000http://emotanafricana.com/?p=18663Most Nigerians do not trust government nor any of its agencies, and not for lack of good reasons. Nigerian governments have generally never considered its citizens worthy of being informed of issues that directly or indirectly impact their lives, a situation that always leads to rumors and innuendos. When these start and get to alarming proportions that government fears could do a lot of damage, it then acts by sending out lies or “half truths”.

A week ago, this blog carried my comments on the announcement that Nigeria’s Director-General of the National Biosafety Management Agency, Rufus Ebegba, who had reportedly issued two permits, including one for the dreaded NK603 GMO ON A WORK-FREE DAY, MAY 1, 2016.

Now that the government has issued a denial that all it merely did: “… issued permits for field trials … (premiumtimes.com, the same news source for the last commentary), Nigerians would be right to hold on tight to their view of their government: that it hardly ever comes clean with its citizens. Here are reasons why Nigerians should hold on fast that the government of – and in Nigeria finds it easier NOT to be straight with its citizens and should, therefore, not be trusted on the latest statement about GMOs.

First, Monsato’s p.r. after several Nigerian groups issued protests that Nigeria should say ‘no’ to GMOs, i.e. AFTER the stealthy permit approval”:

“Many of us at Monsanto are parents who have spent a lot of time thinking about and studying GMOS and we feel confident feeding them to our kids,” Charla Lord, a Monsanto spokesperson said in an email Thursday …” – premiumtimes.com

Simple interpretation in English Language: YES!

And we got two permits, one for NK603, the corn and the other for genetically-modified cotton; both are here. Listen, we did not get cooperation of permits issued on a holiday for nothing, folks!

The second reason Nigerians must continue to stand their ground and not buy into the not-to-be-believed-denial is the statement issued after the cat of possible duplicitous ACTIONS had been let out of the bag:

We only approved field trials, not planting, for GMO … Nigerian Government.

Simple interpretation in English Language: ‘NOT REALLY!’

And you can believe what you want and do what you like, it’s a done deal. As our Ọga patapata used to say: I dey laugh, o! –Ọga At The Top, National Biosafety Management Agency.

Now, to be more serious on the very serious issue of attempting to sneak genetically-modified maize through the back door and ram it down the throat of long-suffering Nigerians, here are some news reports, dating as far back as 2002 on attempts to introduce GMOs to India. The latest one, first.

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has sought an explanation from the central government on its proposed move to introduce herbicide resistant mustard, cotton andcorn in the face of a court-imposed ban on their introduction.

A three-judge bench, comprising Chief Justice of India TS Thakur and justices AK Sikri and R Banumathi asked Attorney General of India Mukul Rohatgi to explain his stand on a contempt petition filed against the members of the committee which cleared the proposal.

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has allowed a panel to examine applications for initiating research and field trials involving genetically modified crops, saying the key question involved was “whether we should die of poverty or go for GMOs (genetically modified organisms). ” “We cannot allow millions of us to die of poverty,” the apex court said, refusing to restrain the Genetic Engineering Advisory Committee from scrutinising applications for open field trials for GM crops … See link at the end to read whole report.

AP bars field trials of Bt cotton

TNN Mar 26, 2002, 07.05pm IST

vijayawada: agriculture minister vadde sobhanadreeswara rao has asserted that there was no question of allowing field trials of the dreaded terminator seeds in the state as also that of the bt cotton variety. addressing the pencounter programme organised by the bezawada press club in vijayawada on sunday, minister said the agreement signed with the us monsanto company was restricted to research in bio-technology and genetic engineering at the proposed bio-technology park of the icici. “we are committed to protect the interests of the farmers by all means. we cannot allow the use of bt cotton seed unless the central government permits it,” minister said. the bt cotton seed was still in an experimental stage and no commercial use of the seed would be permitted, he added. replying to a question, agriculture minister said the state government had approached nabard for a rs 30 crore financial assistance to take up the tarakarama lift irrigation scheme in his mylavaram constituency since the government did not had requisite funds. a response from nabard in this regard was awaited. referring to the pulichintala project, minister said the government was considering the objections being raised by farmers of nalgonda district. only after their views were heard, the government would go ahead with the project, he added. on the central government’s decision to close down food corporation of india, minister said chief minister n chandrababu naidu has already communicated his demand to the centre that it should be continued in the interest of farmers. the agriculture minister attributed farmers’ suicides in various parts of the state to not only to crop losses but also due to other factors like family problems, debt-burden. since farmers were unable to get adequate finance from banks and other institutions they were forced to borrow from private persons.

All references from http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/keyword/field-trials

]]>https://emotanafricana.com/2016/06/22/update-nigeria-changes-tune-on-nk603-gmo-we-only-approved-field-trials/feed/2emotanIs China selling “corned beef” made of human flesh in Africa? Tola Adenlehttps://emotanafricana.com/2016/05/20/is-china-selling-corned-beef-made-of-human-flesh-in-africa-tola-adenle/
https://emotanafricana.com/2016/05/20/is-china-selling-corned-beef-made-of-human-flesh-in-africa-tola-adenle/#respondFri, 20 May 2016 06:40:12 +0000http://emotanafricana.com/?p=15377This is not the first time that China would send shock waves around the world about selling toxic food. Some years ago, the USA put a ban on a baby milk from China that had caused baby deaths and put thousands of babies in hospitals in China. Reason? The milk was found to have been adulterated with melamine, a compound used in plastic manufacturing process.

There have also been cases of watered-down baby formula.

This scare should send a great caution to Nigerians who would buy anything packaged for cooking in market places – at least in my part of the country.

About two months ago, I stopped somebody from buying some concoction packaged in a sachet supposedly to be used in cooking inawo (party) food. I told her anything food product from China is a no-no for me, and I mentioned to her something being sold in Nigeria for N25 – not up to twenty US cents – 20% of $1) after having been produced, shipped, custom-excised, et cetera and sold for that amount must be crap.

Generally, I cook with only fresh ingredients, including making the popular Nigerian jollof rice: just cook the stew and add all the thyme, curries … taste is the same! If you have to use canned products, may be you should always check country of origin.

I’ve found a lot of imported things in Nigeria’s market places do not contain countries of manufacture or origin despite NAFDAC (the country’s food licensing body). If a product has no country of origin, I take it that the country has no pride in her products and I stay away from such purchases.

Nigerians, especially southerners – and particularly Yorubas – are fond of eating excessive quantities of meat, and with their savvy at rustling perhaps some of the tastiest stewed meat in the world, anything meat is always desired.

Ms. Bimbo Aiyelabola’s quintuplets were born in 2011 in the United Kingdom but today, her name stars on an ignominious list: health tourists who bilked the UK health system millions of pounds annually and fled without paying the costs of their medical treatments

The Mail reports Aiyelabola is a make-up artist who drives an expensive car. Make-up artists in Nigeria today are in high demand, including in small towns where they charge exorbitant fees; in Lagos and Abuja, theirs is a sellers’ market.

It would be responsible if Aiyelabola would not only take her name off the list of infamy by paying her bill but would earn respectability to her country and fellow citizens.

]]>https://emotanafricana.com/2016/03/11/incredible-news-from-the-world-of-medicine-new-cancer-treatment-wipes-out-breast-tumor-in-just-11-days-mailonline/feed/0emotanPharmacists call on Nigerian government to stop the retailing of drugs in open air markets – Tola Adenlehttps://emotanafricana.com/2015/09/26/pharmacists-call-on-nigerian-government-to-stop-the-retailing-of-drugs-in-open-air-markets-tola-adenle/
https://emotanafricana.com/2015/09/26/pharmacists-call-on-nigerian-government-to-stop-the-retailing-of-drugs-in-open-air-markets-tola-adenle/#commentsSat, 26 Sep 2015 06:26:38 +0000http://emotanafricana.com/?p=13445The call by practising pharmacists for government to put an end to open markets sale of drugs in the country is long overdue.

Several years ago, an acquaintance who had travelled to Onitsha in Nigeria’s eastern part called to inform me that she brought me a present she knew I would like. Needless to say I looked forward to getting the gift.

She stopped by and brought out a cheap plastic bag which surprised me as I could not imagine what a cheap plastic bag used in open markets to pack tomatoes and the like could contain that would interest me.

I was shocked when she untied the bag and flung the contents – perhaps hundreds of medication capsules – on the floor!

“Kongo tetracycline ti mo ba nyin ra ni Oja Onitsha niyen”! [That is a measuring jar of tetracycline that I purchased for you from Onitsha market]

She told me how huge bowls of all sorts of antibiotics were sold by the “Kongo”, a measuring bowl that would contain about the content of two litres, at Onitsha. It is the same measure that is common in markets for selling gari, uncooked rice, uncooked beans … In fact, I’ve seen women remove the type of container from rice or whatever and use it to measure granulated sugar at open markets but that is still a very far cry from handling potent drugs the way it’s done in Nigeria’s open air markets.